It’s refreshing to watch a take on Animal Farm that is less about heavy-handed political posturing and much more about artistic expression. That’s what we have in Synetic Theater’s latest, a production that incorporates multi-media accents, impressive choreography and most of all amusing and effective anthropomorphic performances from their team of farm residents.

The familiar allegory of the story is pretty straightforward; a group of pigs, hens and horses revolt against their oppressive farmer and decide to take over leadership of the farm themselves. An egalitarian system soon gives way to tyranny, and the animals become as oppressive and oppressed as they once were under the original regime.

Animal Farm relies heavily, and expertly, on the use of a large video screen on which some of the work’s scenes are played out. But the live and pre-recorded moments blend seamlessly together – animals disappear backstage and appear onscreen so quickly, you’d swear they were leaping right onto the screen. The device also adds a nice, eerie feeling of oppressive surveillance to the proceedings.